Violence continues to disrupt Shockoe Bottom businesses as two shootings, an armed robbery and a street shooting, both occurred within four days of each other between the 1800 and 1700 blocks of Main Street.

Six people were injured during the armed robbery at Liquid Café in Shockoe Bottom this past Saturday morning, shortly after 5 a.m. A street shooting took place outside Plush Restaurant and Lounge the previous Wednesday, wounding three and resulting in the arrest of 25-year-old Darroll G. Allen of Chesterfield County.

The man was said to have been kicked out of the club, later returning with a firearm and injuring one of the bouncers at the club. He was charged with felony malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, but the two suspects involved in Saturday’s armed robbery remain unidentified. None of the injuries from either incident were considered life-threatening.

“I am certain that we can all agree that this increasing gun violence in Shockoe Bottom is unacceptable. This cannot be the norm,” said RPD Chief Alfred Durham in a statement after the shooting. “Someone knows the perpetrators of this crime and we need the public’s help. We need people to call us when they hear or see something. We are already working with several stakeholders in the Shockoe Bottom community and we will continue to develop public safety strategies to reduce violence and bring a sense of calm to the area.”

According to Department Spokesman Gene Lepley, these strategies will include increased police presence on weekends and potential road closures to allow for pedestrian-only walking areas in particularly busy street sections, such as the 1800 block of Main Street.

Liquid Café is not active in the Shockoe Bottom Neighborhood Association. Virginia ABC Spokeswoman Dawn Eischan said both Plush and Liquid Café are under investigation, and Virginia ABC is working with Richmond Police. Plush’s wine and beer license is suspended until further notice, and their liquor license has been revoked.

“Virginia ABC believes that there is a continued threat to public safety at this establishment and these actions are necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public,” said Eischan.

Local business owner William “Mac” McCormack is relieved after learning Virginia ABC’s decision, as he and several other business owners in the Shockoe Bottom Neighborhood Association have contested the licenses of several Shockoe Bottom clubs in the past.

“We felt [these clubs’] level of promotion was not conducive to the neighborhood,” said McCormack. “No matter how much effort we made with the ABC Board, they were still granted the license. They’ve had a continuation of violence the last couple years. It drives me a little bananas as a business owner because we’ve been trying to prevent these types of nightclubs from opening because there’s this kind of violence that happens outside of them.”

McCormack is particularly frustrated with the response from the City of Richmond as well as RPD over the past eight years, as their reactions to violence have been to increase police presence and introduce road blockades rather than rezone, revoke business licenses, or decrease maximum occupancy limits in nightclubs. According to McCormack, preventing access to local business caused by the blockades have directly affected his sales. Total sales over his 21 years of businesses average $650,000 to $700,000 per year, yet after introducing blockades, sales dropped to $62,000 in one year.

He hopes that in the future, all Shockoe Bottom businesses will focus on their local community and take responsibility for the neighborhood around them.

“As a neighborhood, we are working hard on trying to make some changes but we’ve been trying to make these changes for eight years,” McCormack said. “The city’s answer is to obstruct our businesses with blockades, and I don’t know if that’s a good answer.”

However, the owner of Plush nightclub, Juan Wilson, feels he’s being unfairly targeted.

“I’m big on accountability. If something were to happen in my venue, it’s a different story, but when something happens on the city streets or sidewalk, we have no control over that,” Wilson told WTVR in a recent interview.

The Shockoe Bottom Neighborhood Association held a meeting earlier this week with business owners, but according to WTVR, Wilson said he was not invited to the meeting.

These blurbs originally appeared in the Good EATS RVA section of RVA #32 Spring 2018. You can check out the issue HERE or pick it up around Richmond now.

Lower 48

A former Food Network competitor has returned to Richmond to open a new restaurant in Shockoe Bottom. Malcolm Mitchell, longtime personal chef, restaurateur, and Season 8 finalist on Food Network Star, opened Lower 48 in September in the old Shockoe Valley Pizza space.

“It’s basically rustic regional American food, going back to the old school way of cooking… a scratch kitchen,” he said. “I’m just trying to do my interpretation.” Serving dinner and brunch, the chef is whipping up his take on American classics such as shrimp and grits, crab cakes, Texas-style barbecue, burgers, and wings, along with craft beer and cocktails.

Competing on Food Network Star wasn’t the chef’s first taste of fame. Mitchell also competed on Beat Bobby Flay. Likewise, Lower 48 isn’t Mitchell’s first dabble in the Richmond restaurant scene. Along with Julep’s owner Amy Ayers, he opened Mint Gastropub in the Fan, which operated for two years before moving, and eventually closing, in Petersburg in 2014.

Originally from New York, the chef grew up in Maryland, where he learned the culinary basics from his mother, and from working at local greasy spoons. He left his hometown to spend four years in the Navy, where he didn’t cook, but his passion still flourished.

“When we would go to these different ports — Spain, Portugal, Denmark, all over the world — the first place I would go was try to find somewhere nice to eat,” he said. “So, I got really into food when I started traveling. That developed my international palate.”

Pictured Right: Malcolm Mitchell

He honed his skills cooking for small parties and friends’ events, but decided he needed to fine tune his craft a bit more before stepping out on his own. Mitchell earned his culinary degree from Stratford University and worked his way up the ranks. “I worked all over the place — chain hotels, little bistros. I worked in school lunch programs with Compass Group, the world’s largest food company. And then I had an opportunity between 2005 and 2007 working for this sports and management company.” Through that gig, he eventually became a personal chef for athletes and musicians like actor/comedian Chris Tucker, singer Mary J. Blige, and the NBA’s Washington Wizards.

Mitchell has since opened concepts in Los Angeles, as well as three in Baltimore, including wine bar Butchers Hill Society; Kitchen Market, a specialty foods and grab and go station; and gastropub Ryder’s.

While jumpstarting restaurants and moving to his next inspiration are Mitchell’s bread and butter, the chef wanted to return to Richmond to make his mark again on the local scene. “I think four years ago when I was there, it was getting there, but everybody was kind of doing the same style. But now it’s changed,” he said. “The fact that it was starting to grow into a big food town and a big beer town, and you can get better rent than in a lot of these big tier cities, it’s a good place to start a new brand.”

Mitchell plans to expand Lower 48 with other locations within Richmond. 423 N. 18th St.

Editor’s Note: As of April 8, Lower 48 has closed. The following is a statement from the restaurant’s Facebook page: “Lower 48 by Malcolm Mitchell would like to thank everyone for their patronage and all our staff for their hard work. Unfortunately, we were unable to get the traction that we needed to keep our doors open. At this time Chef Mitchell and his team are in the process of looking for other opportunities for the brand. Stay tuned for what’s in store! Once again, thank you for all your support!”

Four Forks

“One dessert to share please” is a strange concept to me. I share most things, but my dessert? Not likely. Yet that’s the motto behind Jess Widener’s forthcoming business, Four Forks.

The Lunch/Supper pastry chef serves desserts from the restaurant’s event venue, Urban Roost, and at local farmers’ markets, but is planning to sweeten up Richmond with a spot of her own. The idea is a three-course dessert bar, with special pairings. Widener’s been testing her concept out recently, with pop-ups at The Urban Roost and The Broken Tulip.

“We did a three-course dessert menu and the courses were sent out with the intention to share with whoever you came with, and that’s where the idea is going,” she said. “I would like to have a small intimate restaurant where we could do private events, but also we would do beverage pairings with each course like wine, coffee, tea, and maybe some curated cocktails.”

Before baking at Lunch and Supper, Widener started as a hostess at Brio, working up the corporate ladder to become a sous chef and manager at the restaurant. She also pursued her culinary arts degree at J. Sargeant Reynolds, which she completed in 2013.

Widener baked desserts at Shagbark for a year before returning to Lunch and Supper, where she decided to dip into her creative side and play around with her own recipes. “They had the event space and were looking to expand their pastry department,” she said. “Part of the reason I went back was because I asked them if I could have my own freedom if I was starting my own business in the future, [and] if they would help me brand myself, and they’ve been really helpful.”

Widener said she bases her desserts around one key ingredient. Some of her past pop-ups have featured a blood orange and olive oil cake, bourbon crème Brulee tarts, and dark chocolate toffee pudding.

Blood orange and olive oil cake

The baking gene actually runs in her family. Widener’s dad and uncle were both in the restaurant industry. Her father, from whom she learned to bake growing up, owned Sunday’s before it was The Boathouse, and ran wholesale bakery Ellie’s for years. Widener’s uncle is helping get Four Forks off the ground.

Besides monthly pop-ups, Widener will be selling macaroons and bonbons at the spring farmers’ markets, as well as cookies and brownies for the forthcoming Jackson Ward restaurant Salt & Forge, and packaged treats for Richmond Triangle Players.

And while there’s no official brick and mortar location yet, she hopes to have her dessert bar open in Carytown by the end of the year.

“I love the idea of Carytown, when you have somewhere that features dessert,” she said. “I think you kind of want it to be somewhere that people stumble in after eating dinner.” Widener’s next Four Forks pop-up dinner will be held at Blue Bee Cider April 11.

A dilapidated historic building in Jackson Ward will transform into fast-casual sandwich and breakfast spot Salt & Forge in March. Restoring the North 2nd Street property is former Chipotle executive David Hahn, who has plans for a quick neighborhood spot where busy professionals and area residents can pop in to grab a breakfast biscuit or salad and sandwich for lunch.

“I think there’s an opportunity for fast, tasty breakfast in the area, people coming and going from work,” Hahn said. “I’ve always been on the go, and I’ve always liked eating with my hands, and I think people do.”

Hahn, a Colorado native, has been on the corporate side of the industry for 15 years. He’s worked for Chipotle in operations and development, and helped DC restaurateurs expand the Philly-style hoagie chain Taylor Gourmet from four to nine locations. He first thought of his River City restaurant after a trip here from Florida, where he was helping launch a startup.

“I visited Richmond for the UCI World Championship Bike Race,” he said. “While I was here, I heard a lot of great things about Richmond’s restaurant scene and started asking for restaurant recommendations.” Hahn soon met Melissa, his future fiancé, and once his contract in Florida was up in early 2016, he moved to Richmond to pursue his dream.

Salt & Forge will be a from-scratch kitchen with most ingredients made in-house. “We’ll roast our own meat, grind our own corned beef, make our own pickles, jams, dressings, sauces,” Hahn said.

The menu offers Ruebens, grilled cheeses, Cubanos, as well as brisket and an Italian sandwich for lunch, and on the lighter side, a beet salad; Mediterranean salad; and a superfood salad with kale, cabbage, bok choy and pickled apples; along with potato salad, fruit, and soups as sides.

In addition to lunch, the 42-seat restaurant will be open for breakfast, serving biscuits and gravy, chicken biscuits, egg sandwiches, and biscuits with jam, along with cold-brew coffee. Locally-sourced desserts, beer, and wine will also be on the menu at the restaurant.

Hahn plans to offer delivery as well as catering to local companies when he’s up and running. Salt & Forge is still undergoing construction, but Hahn plans to be open by mid to late March. 312 N. 2nd St.

Editor’s Note: Since the version of this story ran in print, Salt & Forge has opened in Jackson Ward.

Last Friday and Saturday nights saw the 12th Annual United Blood Festival take over The Canal Club in Shockoe Bottom. United Blood is a hardcore fest, showcasing an offshoot of punk rock known as hardcore due to its heavier, more metallic sound, its tough, no-frills presentation, and its street-level lyrical realism. Beginning in various American cities at the dawn of the 80s, hardcore has established a strong tradition in the intervening decades, and this year’s edition of United Blood celebrated that tradition with performances from established legends of the scene, while also presenting many of the scene’s best new bands.

The big attraction for many this year was the thrill of reunion sets from two celebrated bands from the early 2000s. While people were excited about reunions from bands that were formed nearly 20 years after the dawn of this underground subgenre; hardcore remains a very youth-oriented movement even today, and it’s no surprise that many attendees would be seeing both Count Me Out and Shark Attack for the first time.

Richmond locals Count Me Out were a particularly powerful draw for locals of all ages, whether they wanted to relive their teenage years or get a dose of the sounds of their hometown that they’d been born too late to catch the first time. The two 12-hour days of music had a lot of other inducements to offer, from NYHC legends Madball and Connecticut vets Death Threat to current bands putting new twists on the genre, including Turnstile and Twitching Tongues, among others.

The website where tickets were available for purchase warned buyers to “ENTER AT OWN RISK” in bold capital letters, and one glance at the frenetic dance-floor antics on display throughout the festival was enough to demonstrate the aptness of such a warning. As befits the music, hardcore dancing is an aggressive, intense display of controlled violence — fists and feet fly as some audience members go charging through the crowd at full speed and others dive from the stage onto the upraised arms of the crowd.

However, despite the intensity of this physical expression, there’s a sense of togetherness and unity that unites the audience, which can be seen in the way those who trip and fall in the pit are immediately picked up and placed back on their feet by those around them. It’s also on display in front of the stage, where fans singing along to the choruses of their favorite songs are often given a chance to sing along into the mic by band members who see themselves not as rock stars but as peers.

While it may be inscrutable to outsiders, the initiated tend to think of the hardcore scene as a family — one that feels more open and accepting than mainstream society and even their biological families. When they’re here and this music plays, they are at home; they are together as one. United Blood.

A local coffee roaster has been brewing up plans for expansion-and with the help of an Indiegogo campaign, the company will serve up a cafe and coffee bar to residents in Shockoe Bottom this spring.

It’s been two years since Ironclad Coffee Roasters stirred the community awake with their West Moore Street facility in Scott’s Addition, and have since been roasting small batch specialty-grade coffees and distributing them to local bakeries and markets like Red Cap Patisserie, Craft Kolache, Union Market, Urban Farmhouse, Ellwood Thompson’s, and Stir Crazy Cafe.

Founder Ryan O’Rourke has launched a $25,000 campaign to help fund their cafe in a historic firehouse building on East Grace Street, slated to open this May.

O’Rourke and family

O’Rouke, who hails from Ireland, was inspired to open Ironclad here after spending five years in Europe, where he was impressed with the values of the country, yet recognized their flaws.

O’Rourke reflects on the Ironclad website on how there was an obvious lack of great customer service, which lit a flame inside of him to provide that for Richmond.

“People assume that Richmond is a big coffee city but it’s more of a baby one,” said O’Rourke.

This, however, is not the first crowdfunding campaign that the company has started.

In 2015, O’Rourke started the first campaign, also for $25,000, in order to establish the official Ironclad Coffee Roastery, which has been popular with the local community as well as locations in town that sell their coffee.

“There are two big reasons why we picked Ironclad coffee,” said John Wladar, owner of Red Cap Patisserie with his wife Martine. “Out of all the coffee we sampled, we simply liked Ironclad the most. Ironclad is also an up and coming roastery and we wanted to differentiate ourselves from the rest.”

O’Rourke said the crowdfunding will be crucial for buildout and equipment, but it is only a small fraction of the cost and that whether the goal is met or not, they will continue to move forward with the startup in May.

With the first campaign raising $5,724 and the second one raising $7,067, there’s still a month left to donate.

The campaigns offer different perks and incentives to draw support. Ranging from a t-shirt and coffee mug package to the contributor receiving free coffee for a whole year, Ironclad seems to be pulling out all of the stops in order to please the local coffee-fanatics.

“Crowdfunding is an accessible way to get the community involved,” said O’Rourke.

The couple, who now live in Shockoe Bottom and has been eyeing the building, located at 1805 E.Grace St. for about two years for their forthcoming cafe.

According to O’Rourke, this is the prime location for the cafe because of the amount of foot traffic it produces.

“My wife and I watch the location all the time. People park and walk to the VCU bus and then back to their cars. We see hundreds of people passing the location,” said O’Rourke.

But the foot traffic is not the only reason Ironclad wants to start brewing there.

“It [Shockoe Bottom] has a certain grit to it–and I mean that in a good way,” said O’Rourke.

The cafe will serve and showcase “some of the more rare and exquisite single-origin coffees…from around the world” that includes coffee beans farmed from Honduras, Nicaragua, Kenya, and Guatemala. The cafe will have fruity blends and their usual popular blends that you can find on their site here.

The goal is that Ironclad will be able to open its doors in May, with still one month left to donate to their campaign.

Ryan hadn’t planned on going out that night. Hanging out at home seemed just as viable of an option, but after being visited by a friend, he was convinced. His friend’s band, Torino Death Ride, was playing at the classic Richmond haunt for metal and hardcore rock: Wonderland.

Originally printed in RVA #31 WINTER 2017, you can check out the issue HERE or pick it up around Richmond now.

He hadn’t planned on going out that night. Yet here he is, standing at the bar, drinking a beer, talking to friends he’s known for years and listening to the band close their set in the charmingly creepy and irresistibly weird Shockoe Bottom bar.

The streets are quiet right now, as most of Shockoe Bottom patrons have made their way inside the bars and clubs. Between 30 and 40 people occupy Wonderland tonight, all enjoying a space that many have come to call a second home.

It’s another Saturday night in the Bottom.

1 a.m.

Wonderland, Shockoe Bottom

The band is just finishing up and are beginning to load their things into their car–drums, amps, instruments–before the late-night crowds flood the streets and police close in to ensure another night of safe fun on Main Street.

The air conditioning unit in Wonderland hasn’t been working correctly, and this early in October the last dredges of a Virginia summer feel oppressively humid. The front windows of Wonderland are wide open to allow air flow.

Clint

The person manning the front door is Clint, who’s just helped the band load their equipment into the car. Crowds from neighboring bars and clubs are filtering into the streets–some headed for a late-night snack like wings or pizza, others finding their way to cars or waiting for Ubers. The sidewalks buzz with life.

Chad Painter, the owner of Wonderland, had told all his door guys that if there was ever any trouble in the street, they should take pictures in case it would help police. Clint had seen a fight break out down the street, but also saw a Deputy arrive and break it up. The situation seemed to have de-escalated, but within a few moments, they would find it hadn’t.

It’s not just another Saturday night in the Bottom.

1:16 a.m.

18th and Main Street

Lt. Erlan Marshall was making his usual rounds in Shockoe Bottom. He has worked with the Richmond Police Department (RPD) for over 20 years, and assumed his current role as head of operations in Shockoe Bottom about four years ago. Working overnight shifts in the Bottom is overtime for most officers, but for Lt. Marshall–this was his usual Friday and Saturday night. He manages the 10th to 19th street blocks of Shockoe Bottom and likes to keep around 11 officers on patrol in the area.

“We basically are all assigned to zones,” Marshall said. “Officers try to stay close to areas that could have a potential for violence, merely because of the fact that there are clubs, there’s alcohol, and there are lots of young people. We show a strong presence in order to try and deter crime.”

While walking up 18th Street, Lt. Marshall hears gunfire. An officer sends a message over the radio, “Shots fired.” Two officers in reflective vests were just a half block away from the sound of the shooting, but their presence was not enough to deter this gunfire.

“Our challenge was try to figure out who was shooting because by the time I rounded the corner and came into the zone, there were no shots being fired,” Marshall explained. “But what was happening, it was like a wild stampede because people are running in all directions. From the officer’s point of view, we don’t know what’s going on, we don’t know who’s shooting, who has the gun, whatever. All we see is people who are running towards officers in all directions.”

Within seconds, an ambulance was called and responding officers began putting crime scene tape around the entire 1700 block of Main Street.

1:16 a.m.

Wonderland

“It sounded just like popping. You know those snappy things you throw as a kid on the ground that pop? It sounded like that, but a hundred times louder. The window was open as well, so the sound came right in.”

Julia Veres was standing at the end of the bar, side furthest from the window when she heard that popping sound. After hearing it five or six more times, she realized it wasn’t an amp or a firecracker, but actual gunshots.

“I dropped like gravity didn’t fucking exist,” Veres said. “I was right at the end of the bar and I was like boom. We were all on the ground in at least a minute, maybe two minutes.”

The bartender, Brian, had yelled at everyone to get on the ground. Clint was still outside and pushed anyone lingering on the sidewalk back into the bar, including the band members who were still loading their equipment.

“I thought it was the speakers, like the snare drum, or some percussion instrument going off on the speakers,” Ryan said. “Then I just saw some motion out of the corner of my eye. I was talking to somebody, and I just glanced and they were all piling towards the door. I heard, ‘Get down! Get the fuck down!’ And I heard more gunshots. Then I knew. Then I dropped and everybody in here dropped.”

Ryan

Painter, the bar owner, was walking into the bar from the back office when the shots were fired. When he realized what was happening, he quickly made his way to the front to make sure the doors were secure and everyone was on the ground.

“[Clint] was crouched down in the doorway looking towards the stuff, and there is a bullet hole in the wall, not even a foot above where his head would have been if he were standing up,” said Painter.

Brian threw the keys to the front door to Clint, who locked the door. Chad shut the front windows, killed the music and worked with Brian and Clint to push everyone towards the back of the bar, into the kitchen, staying low.

“We had a couple people who were outside and a friend of mine, Ace, who was coming back from getting pizza. The bullets went right by his head,” Chad said. “He took off running, he ran out back and got underneath the air conditioning unit in the back because he didn’t know what was going on. We let him in the back, and he was completely shaken up the rest of the night.”

Seconds pass as everyone crowds together on the floor. Then minutes.

1:30 a.m.

1700 block of Main Street

The first people police allow into a crime scene are medical emergency responders. By 1:30, the ambulance had arrived, and EMTs had examined the two victims.

Deonte M. Bullock, 19, and Oscar W. Lewis II, 25, were found fatally wounded in the 1700 block of East Main Street, just outside Wonderland. The boys were known to be best friends since childhood. While Bullock was transported by ambulance to the hospital, Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene. His friend would be pronounced dead that afternoon.

The victims

“After we have that part covered, detectives then come in and start working the case,” Lt. Marshall explained. “They collect the evidence, interviewing any witnesses that we might have, and they don’t normally do the interview on scene. Usually, they ask the witness to go to police headquarters where they can be interviewed and recorded, and then they go from there. That same night, they had warrants on the shooter.”

Detectives were able to find a reliable witness. A young woman who said she was the girlfriend of one of the victims was taken to police headquarters and interviewed. Her descriptions, along with eyewitnesses at the scene, were able to identify the offender as Dominique D. Brockenbrough, 40.

Brockenbrough

“[Detectives] believe it was a retaliation,” Marshall said, referring to an earlier shooting dispute that summer he believed involved the two victims.

According to the police record, Brockenbrough is wanted on charges of “aggravated malicious wounding, possessing and transporting a firearm by a convicted felon, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.”

“I think I was there until 3:30, but if I remember correctly someone told me that they cleared the scene around 6 o’clock in the morning,” Lt. Marshall said. “People might not understand why they’re out there that long, but they have to remember that it’s preserving evidence and pictures, measurements, things like that become very important when you go into court for a murder trial. You can’t just come, scoop up the person and leave. You have to show consistent evidence.”

Because of this process, the body of 25-year-old Oscar Lewis remained on the sidewalk for nearly five hours.

1:30 a.m.

Wonderland

“I saw the hand,” Veres said. “I just wanted to know in my own head just how close this was to our front door. I just went to the window, I just leaned forward just a little bit, and I just saw the hand and I thought, ‘That’s really, really fucking close.’ But I didn’t want to see him.”

Painter and the other employees work to keep everyone secure inside. A group of about 15 college-aged kids can’t wait and leave out the back shortly after police block off the sidewalk out front. Although the heavy police presence suggests no imminent danger, Painter tries to keep everyone else inside until police gave an all-clear.

Painter

“There was one girl, actually,” Veres said. “She was just inconsolable, crying. I was shaking, but I was okay. She was in this booth toward the back, she wasn’t near the window. I would say she had to be under 25. Right after everyone got down and he closed the front window and everyone got in the back, she walked past me, just crying. It’s just sad. Two people are dead. That’s the saddest part. It’s sad we had to experience something like that, but at the end of the day, there are two human lives that were taken.”

Most patrons stay in the bar for the next hour after the incident, consoling one another, talking to each other, waiting for news. “To be completely honest with you, I had a beer after that,” Ryan said. “I had to sit down.”

There are two bullet holes in Wonderland’s building. One is just to the left of the front door.

“Clint said he went home and had to wash his hair three or four times because when the bullet hit, there was still the dust from the plaster,” Painter said. “He had to wash his hair three or four times just to get it out, to not feel like that was there. He was back the next night.”

There is another bullet hole that goes through the window in Sumo San, the restaurant just next door. Sumo San had been long closed before the shooting, but the bullet went straight through to the wall.

“I had to look,” Ryan said. “I stood out there and I looked at the kid. Then a couple times after that, I went and looked through the window and he was in the same spot. You keep hoping, or wanting, or expecting that next time you go and look, that they’ve rolled or that they’re talking to somebody. I didn’t know who this guy was, but I think inherently in every human being you don’t want to see anyone else suffer or be in pain. I feel bad about the fact that I needed to go look. What did I need to go see a dead man for?”

3:30 a.m.

1700 block of Main Street

The only officers needed now are patrol officers to secure the crime scene while forensics and detectives finish their work. They’re stationed at different points to ensure no one accidentally wanders into the crime scene or disturbs the evidence. Lt. Marshall can go home.

“Seeing as how I’ve been working the overtime down there for four years, this is the first shooting that’s happened while I was working,” Marshall said. “Historically, over the past years when there was violence there, it happened in that general area. Not to say that can’t happen on Cary Street, because there are clubs over there, too. They have had incidents over there, but not to the extreme as those that happen on Main Street.”

Marshall ticked off proactive steps the police took for Main Street. “We decided to actually shut the streets down a little bit earlier, enforce a little bit harder parking regulation, basically keep cars away from a club where they might have easy access to a gun. Basically, do little things to deter crime from happening.”

Other than one incident near the Farmer’s Market this past July, there hasn’t been a shooting like this in Shockoe Bottom since 2011. Things are much quieter in the Bottom under Lt. Marshall’s watch, and crime has been steadily decreasing in the area. But according to Marshall, crime, on the whole, isn’t down, it’s simply moved elsewhere.

There were 61 homicides in the city of Richmond in 2016. In the first 36 days of 2017, violent crime had increased by 25 percent. Unfortunately, the areas where crime is occurring is often in government housing areas, according to Marshall. It’s why the public sees such high spikes in Richmond crimes rates. More than 130 people have been shot in Richmond this year, and as of Nov. 17, there have been 62 deaths by gunshot in 2017, according to the database.

“When I first moved here and I lived in the Richmond area apartments, I worked at Alley Katz,” Ryan said. “I loved coming to Shockoe Bottom. There was a group of us and we called ourselves ‘Bottom Rats.’ We loved it. And now, I don’t like coming down here. It’s a fucking shame because this bar is the shit. McCormack’s is awesome. It’s just like on certain nights of the week, it’s like a war zone. You don’t know what’s going to go down.”

Marshall said that there are plans in motion to set up video cameras in the street that would connect to a police officer in Main Street Station, offering officers live feed of this area of the Bottom. In addition to this project, the reconstruction of the Shockoe Bottom Farmer’s Market promises to install its own set of video cameras, further providing tools to gather evidence if another instance like this should ever occur.

“I don’t know that there’s any answer for how you stop people from committing crimes, because as I said before, there were two officers maybe half a block away, and this person still decided to pull out a gun knowing very well there was a potential for him to be confronted by the police,” Marshall said. “I don’t know that there’s an answer for how you stop crime because some people are just bent on doing crime, and they’re going to do it, and not really consider the consequences.”

Morning of October 8

Wonderland

“It’s difficult not to break down,” Painter said. “Fuck the business. I almost lost several very close friends. People who are like my brothers. Again, money is money, it’s whatever it is. Further on the back end, obviously, this is going to affect business for everybody down here. But the number one thing was I almost lost a lot of really good friends, and I broke down a little bit once I got home. But when you’re the leader, so to speak, you have to be strong for everyone. It’s very difficult. Thank God everybody is safe.”

Painter was still in his bar with Julia Veres, Ace, and a few others come morning. Several people couldn’t leave because their cars were part of the crime scene, which wasn’t cleared until 6 a.m. They stayed, talked, and processed what they had just witnessed. It was a long night.

Veres

Painter believes one of the reasons crime is more likely to happen in the Bottom is due to the presence of large-capacity clubs, like Plush and Image. Having such large groups of people together in one place, then mixing in alcohol, can create conflict between patrons and situations that are hard to control for bouncers and business owners. Although there are frequent meetings between other business owners in Shockoe Bottom, as well as the Shockoe Bottom Neighborhood Association, Painter finds that these discussions often fail to produce results or bolster neighborhood cooperation.

“You can’t control 500 people,” Painter said. “Period. It’s like one bad apple screws it up for everyone. We’ve been to the meetings, we’ve sat there, we’ve talked.”

Although there is a strong police presence in this section of Shockoe Bottom, Painter believes business owners should take on their own sense of responsibility when policing their own business and portion of the neighborhood, since opening a new business in Shockoe Bottom may mean bringing a new or varied demographic of people to that business.

“[Being a responsible business owner] just means you don’t let people get away with shit, inside or outside,” Painter said. “You walk in that door, whatever problem you have with whoever it is, that shit’s out the fucking door. You’re on my time. I’ve worked too hard at this for too long, and I’ve sacrificed too many aspects of my own life, be it relationships or friendships.”

Because of that sacrifice, Painter’s business continues to attract customers in spite of whatever may happen in the Bottom, whether they wander down the rabbit hole into Wonderland for the first time or they’ve been coming back every weekend for years.

“It’s the sense of camaraderie,” Painter said. “The pyramid effect of everybody who’s worked for me or been with me through the years; they still come back, regardless of what happens. They keep coming back. I’m still here because this is like an oasis or an escape for people. People come here for years. They go away, they come back, they’ve got stories. Once you get in, you never leave. It’s a sense of community, our own little family. I guess they feel like they belong to something.”

Cat lovers stop what you’re doing right meow. (Sorry I will try to keep the cat puns to a mewimum.) Angela and Jeff Sidener, in partnership with Richardson’s Rescue, will open Richmond’s first cat café, Central Purrk and lounge, Zoomie’s in Shockoe Bottom this spring.

Now before you get all excited, no, you can’t pet cats as you sip your coffee and eat your breakfast. They’ve leased two neighboring spaces on East Main Street because you know, Richmond’s pesky health codes and such. The Central Purrk side will be a coffee shop selling coffee and pastries and Zoomie’s will be the lounge and retail space where cat lovers can purchase cat-related items and come in and hang out with cats that are up for adoption.

“The main goal is getting cats homed, I’ve been involved in rescue for years and some of the adult cats, they don’t show well at an adoption stand, it’s very hard to get them adopted so we want a place where you can really see their personality and interact with them,” said Angela Sidener. “It’s a way to help Richardson’s Rescue who doesn’t have a facility.”

Richardson’s Rescue is a local non-profit cat rescue that is providing the cats for Zoomie’s. The all-volunteer group has been around since December 2015 and has about 50-85 cats and kittens in foster homes at one time. It also provides spay/neuter services, veterinary care, in addition to adoption services.

Rainbow, a Richardson’s rescue cat available for adoption

“We have fosters anywhere from Midlothian…to King William, we’re a foster-based rescue,” said Helen Miller, Executive Director of Richardson’s Rescue. “Our passion is with community cats and feral cats so we’re heavy into that and we also help a lot of senior citizens and veterans.”

The group hosts adoptions every Saturday at PetValu in Short Pump as well as Petco in Midlothian. Last year the organization adopted out 378 cats.

Miller said they are always in need of fosters and this lounge is a good way for those not able to have a cat of their own to still enjoy their company in a relaxed, natural setting that’s not a shelter.

“A lot of med students, they’re busy and in that area there’s a lot of apartments…they don’t have time for a pet, but they would love to sit with a cup of coffee and a cat in their lap,” she said.

She added that costs can also prevent people from getting a pet as well.

Harper

Angela and her husband Jeff helped to get the rescue off the ground along with founder Jerry Ingram. In fact, Angela said her former job and living situation led to her involvement with cat and kitten rescue.

“I was a court reporter and was fortunate enough to work on the Henrico Circuit Court case of Susan Mills when she was fighting for the right for people to feed feral cats so I got to know some of the resources that were available to the community through that work,” she said.

Jeff and Angela Sidener

The couple also lived across the street from an apartment complex in Richmond that had a tremendous cat overpopulation problem, which is how the road to her cat café began.

“We got involved in rescue then and haven’t gotten out since,” she said. “We kind of got the idea through reading about the one in New York,” she said. “When DC’s opened, we went up to visit it and that was about a year ago when we decided that we really wanted to take it seriously and writing a business plan.”

The U.S. was slow to catch on to the cat café concept. They seem to have started in Japan and Taiwan and California was the first to catch on to the craze in 2015, followed by New York, and Crumbs and Whiskers in D.C most recently. Style Weekly had the scoop back in December of one woman hoping to bring the concept to Hampton Roads.

The couple started scouting locations for their potential cat café in Richmond last year and ultimately landed on the two spaces in Shockoe Bottom at 1706 and 1704 E. Main St. in December.

“It’s been a long time coming,” she said. “We’d been looking around Carytown, the Church Hill area, it was so hard to find a place that had separate addresses, but that was close to each other.”

Zoomie’s customers will be able order items from Central Purrk and have their treats delivered while they socialize with resident cats.

The front part of Zoomie’s will be for retail where people can buy kitty toys, custom furniture, hammocks, beds, ceramics, art, jewelry and the back portion of the lounge is where people can book times to visit with the cats.

“At any given time there will be five kitties for you to sit and relax and there will be TV and games,” said Miller. “Every cat that’s in there is available for adoption.”

Gulliver

There will be a TV where people in Central Purrk can watch everything going on in Zoomie’s with the cats once they get up and running as well.

Angela and Jeff Sidener are hoping to have Central Purrk and Zoomie’s open by mid-April. You can follow their progress on their Facebook pages. In the meantime, check out the adorable furballs available for adoption at Richardson’s Rescue here. Adoption fees are $95.